Month: September 2025

FREDsense, a pioneer in rapid water testing technology, has announced the close of its USD $7 million Series A funding round led by HG Ventures, with participation from Emerald Technology Ventures. FREDsense delivers practical, next-generation solutions for detecting PFAS —“forever chemicals”— by providing fast, portable testing equipment that allows customers to get results in hours rather than weeks.

The company has launched the first commercially available field-based PFAS detector and has seen early adoption across industries such as environmental consulting & services, water and wastewater treatment, energy and general industrial operations. By replacing lengthy lab turnaround times with same-day answers onsite, FREDsense enables onsite teams to identify contamination hotspots, verify cleanups, and optimize treatment more efficiently and at lower cost.

“Our mission is simple: make PFAS testing fast, accessible, and actionable,” said David Lloyd, CEO of FREDsense. “With support from HG Ventures and Emerald, we’ll expand production, deepen customer support, and continue improving our product so more sites can get answers on the spot.”

“Communities and companies need cleaner water, faster answers, and fewer delays,” said Ginger Rothrock, Senior Director at HG Ventures. “FREDsense puts lab-level insight into the hands of field teams, which is exactly what this moment requires. We’re proud to lead the round and support FREDsense as they scale.”

“FREDsense is bringing much-needed speed and practicality to PFAS testing,” said Clayton MacDougald, Investment Director at Emerald and newly appointed FREDsense Board Member. “When you can get reliable results the same day, you make better decisions, finish jobs faster, and reduce costs. We’re thrilled to back this team alongside HG Ventures.”

Looking Ahead

FREDsense is building toward long-term relevance in a market of extreme importance, where PFAS sits at the intersection of environmental urgency, human health concerns, regulatory enforcement and economic opportunity within a global multi-billion-dollar problem. With its first-mover advantage, growing commercial traction, and scalable business model, FREDsense represents a compelling opportunity for players in the PFAS space that are seeking differentiated tools to strengthen their portfolios and respond to regulatory and customer demand.

About FREDsense

FREDsense Technologies Corp. is a leading provider of innovative water quality testing solutions, offering field-deployable sensors that deliver fast, accurate, and reliable results. Its flagship product, FRED-PFAS™, revolutionizes the detection of PFAS and other contaminants, helping clients accelerate remediation projects and ensure regulatory compliance. For more information visit www.fredsense.com.

Erin Crowther highlights an important lens through which to view investment opportunities. 

Across the sectors we invest in—electrification, construction, mobility, water, and materials—one theme is increasingly clear: resilience.

As natural disasters become more frequent, supply chains grow more complex, and energy systems are pushed to their limits, infrastructure of all types must be built to withstand disruption.

For investors, resilience is now an essential lens for assessing opportunity. At HG Ventures, it’s influencing how we think about long-term value, risk mitigation, and the kind of technologies we want to back.

What Resilience Looks Like in Practice

Resilience takes different forms by sector. In transportation infrastructure, it means roads, bridges, and safety systems that can endure extreme weather events and extended maintenance cycles. In energy, it is grid stability, redundancy, and the ability to operate during power outages or demand spikes. In supply chains, it is robust logistics networks and smart systems that adapt to real-time conditions. And in materials and chemicals, it is durability, sustainability, and product lifecycles that reduce dependence on volatile inputs.

The unifying principle: Systems don’t just function in ideal conditions, they must continue to operate, perform and adapt under stress.

Why Investors Are Paying Attention

Traditional venture investing has often focused on scalability and speed to market, but resilience adds another layer: Can this business or technology withstand pressure—whether physical, financial, or systemic—and continue to deliver value over time?

At HG Ventures, we view resilience as a multiplier of long-term value. A water treatment solution that continues delivering clean water even during periods of scarcity or drought, or a construction material that doesn’t degrade in extreme temperatures, is more likely to scale sustainably. These aren’t just technological advantages—they’re strategic moats.

And for capital-intensive companies operating in highly regulated, mission-critical sectors, resilience isn’t optional. It’s existential.

How Resilience Drives Financial Return

As investors, we need to invest in companies that can deliver financial return. Here’s how resilience can increase enterprise value:

• Revenue continuity: If a $100 MM-revenue operation increases uptime by just 1%, that’s ~$1 MM incremental revenue annually—often at high contribution margins.
• Lower lifetime cost: Materials or components that extend asset life defer replacement capex; deferring a $10 MM replacement from today by five years at a 10% discount rate adds ~$3.8 MM in NPV.
• Maintenance and warranty savings: More durable systems cut unplanned maintenance by 15–30%, reduce warranty claims, and shrink service truck rolls—direct opex savings that widen EBITDA.
• Regulatory and bid advantage: Many public and industrial buyers now score for resilience; passing those gates with lower total cost of ownership raises win rate.

Resilience Is in Our DNA

This focus aligns closely with the legacy of The Heritage Group, our parent company. With nearly 90 years of experience in infrastructure, environmental services, and specialty chemicals, one of THG’s values is ‘creating enduring value’, and the group has been designing and operating resilient systems since long before it became a buzzword.

That history gives HG Ventures a unique perspective on what durability and long-term operational viability really look like—and how to evaluate it in emerging startups.

It also means our support goes beyond capital. We bring operational know-how, industrial scale-up experience, and real-world pilot environments that help young companies test and refine their technologies under realistic conditions. Resilience isn’t just something we invest in—it’s something we help build.

Where We Go From Here

As climate risks, geopolitical shocks, and economic uncertainty continue to shape the landscape, resilience will only become more valuable. Investors will need to ask harder questions about how startups will perform under stress. Founders need to design for longevity, not just launch.

For us, the next generation of hardtech and industrial innovation will be defined not just by what works, but by what endures.